So we think most likely only one bidder against the auction house at some point. Any idea who that bidder might be and/or at what point everyone else was out?
At first, this looks like a lost opportunity from the consignor standpoint because of the high hidden reserve. But, let’s say the second bidder was out of the running at $350K. The consignor only gets that amount then. But now, they have the card back with a $850K comp (sort of), although noted that the card did not sell. A couple of years from now, they give the card to REA/Heritage/AH. Most likely, the opening bid will be much more reasonable and interested bidders researching past offerings of the card will find the not met reserve at $850K and that number will play a significant roll in how high they are willing to go. Of course, if the item description is more honest and straightforward, that will have a huge impact as well. So, potentially, this consignor might have ended up with $350K on a card whose prior highest sale was $51K, now they are working with an unsold number of $850K. This may not be a bad decision at all by the consignor, I can see the logic in possibly getting a much bigger payday down the road and Goldin played right into it by allowing the $1MM reserve.
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